Drum
[drʌm]
Definition
(noun.) small to medium-sized bottom-dwelling food and game fishes of shallow coastal and fresh waters that make a drumming noise.
(noun.) a musical percussion instrument; usually consists of a hollow cylinder with a membrane stretched across each end.
(noun.) a cylindrical metal container used for shipping or storage of liquids.
(noun.) the sound of a drum; 'he could hear the drums before he heard the fifes'.
(verb.) play a percussion instrument.
(verb.) make a rhythmic sound; 'Rain drummed against the windshield'; 'The drums beat all night'.
Checker: Nicole--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) An instrument of percussion, consisting either of a hollow cylinder, over each end of which is stretched a piece of skin or vellum, to be beaten with a stick; or of a metallic hemisphere (kettledrum) with a single piece of skin to be so beaten; the common instrument for marking time in martial music; one of the pair of tympani in an orchestra, or cavalry band.
(n.) Anything resembling a drum in form
(n.) A sheet iron radiator, often in the shape of a drum, for warming an apartment by means of heat received from a stovepipe, or a cylindrical receiver for steam, etc.
(n.) A small cylindrical box in which figs, etc., are packed.
(n.) The tympanum of the ear; -- often, but incorrectly, applied to the tympanic membrane.
(n.) One of the cylindrical, or nearly cylindrical, blocks, of which the shaft of a column is composed; also, a vertical wall, whether circular or polygonal in plan, carrying a cupola or dome.
(n.) A cylinder on a revolving shaft, generally for the purpose of driving several pulleys, by means of belts or straps passing around its periphery; also, the barrel of a hoisting machine, on which the rope or chain is wound.
(n.) See Drumfish.
(n.) A noisy, tumultuous assembly of fashionable people at a private house; a rout.
(n.) A tea party; a kettledrum.
(v. i.) To beat a drum with sticks; to beat or play a tune on a drum.
(v. i.) To beat with the fingers, as with drumsticks; to beat with a rapid succession of strokes; to make a noise like that of a beaten drum; as, the ruffed grouse drums with his wings.
(v. i.) To throb, as the heart.
(v. i.) To go about, as a drummer does, to gather recruits, to draw or secure partisans, customers, etc,; -- with for.
(v. t.) To execute on a drum, as a tune.
(v. t.) (With out) To expel ignominiously, with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter or rogue from a camp, etc.
(v. t.) (With up) To assemble by, or as by, beat of drum; to collect; to gather or draw by solicitation; as, to drum up recruits; to drum up customers.
Typist: Waldo
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. (Anat.) Tympanum.
Edited by Cecilia
Definition
n. a small hill or ridge of hills used in many place-names as Drumglass Drumsheugh &c.
n. an instrument of percussion in which a skin of parchment stretched on a frame of wood or metal is beaten with an instrument called a drumstick: anything shaped like a drum: the tympanum or middle portion of the ear: (archit.) the upright part of a cupola: (mech.) a revolving cylinder: formerly a large and tumultuous evening party (said to be so called because rival hostesses vied with each other in beating up crowds of guests).—v.i. to beat a drum: to beat with the fingers.—v.t. to drum out to expel: to summon:—pr.p. drum′ming; pa.p. drummed.—ns. Drum′head the head of a drum (see Court-martial): the top part of a capstan; Drum′-mā′jor the chief drummer of a regiment (now called sergeant-drummer); Drum′mer one who drums: (U.S.) a commercial traveller; Drum′stick the stick with which the drum is beat: the leg of a cooked fowl.
Typed by Ernestine
Unserious Contents or Definition
To hear the muffled beating of a drum, denotes that some absent friend is in distress and calls on you for aid. To see a drum, foretells amiability of character and a great aversion to quarrels and dissensions. It is an omen of prosperity to the sailor, the farmer and the tradesman alike.
Edited by Ellis
Unserious Contents or Definition
Something noisy, and made to beat.
Edited by Griffith
Examples
- I got a drum and went over to the potato farm and sprinkled it on the vines with a pot. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Then 800 pulses of air will reach the ear each second, and the ear drum, being flexible, will respond and will vibrate at the same rate. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- The fraction drum of the indicator could be driven in either direction, known as the advance and retrograde movements, and was divided and marked in eighths. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Near the center of the clearing, and not far from the drum, or altar, he commenced to dig. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Instead of the two small contact wheels, however, a projecting arm carried an iron pin or stylus, so arranged that its point would normally impinge upon the periphery of the drum. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The receiving instrument at the other end of the line was constructed upon much the same general lines as the transmitter, consisting of a metallic drum and reels for the paper tape. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- As the din of the drum rose to almost deafening volume Kerchak sprang into the open space between the squatting males and the drummers. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- He also had earthenware drums across which skins were stretched; perhaps also he made drums by stretching skins over hollow tree stems. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- I am confident that all the drums and trumpets of a royal army, beating and sounding together just at your ears, could not equal it. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- The drums rolled, the guards saluted, and the old carriage drove away. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Grand shop-winders, trumpets, and drums; and here be we out of doors in all winds and weathers-- But you mistake me, pleaded Clym. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Till the war-drums throb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Each sheet of paper is laid by a boy on a web of tapes, by which it is carried round one paper cylinder, and then over and under two wooden drums to the other paper cylinder. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- I came down to look for her, for when I sat by Gridley this afternoon, I seemed to hear the roll of the muffled drums. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Something drummed and clanged furiously in his ears; he could not tell if it were the blood in his veins, or the tick of the clock on the mantel. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The pink-faced clock drummed out another hour, and Gerty rose with a start. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- He paused and drummed on his desk. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- He glanced at the foolish pink-faced clock that was drumming out this hideous hour. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Outside the mist turned to rain and in a little while it was raining hard and we heard it drumming on the roof. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- I heard him say to himself, stopping at the window in his walk, and drumming on the glass with his fingers. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Then suddenly came a low guggling, gargling sound, and a brisk drumming upon woodwork. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Nobody saw the poor girls drumming at the duets in private. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Checked by Aurora